Bernie Sanders Warns That If Republicans Don’t Get Onboard On Climate And Health Care, ‘We’re Going To Do It Alone’

While appearing on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Tuesday night, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) pledged that there will be legislation on “the need to transform our energy system, create millions of good-paying jobs, combating climate change, and rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure.” He added that when it comes to health care and infrastructure, his message to Republicans is “if you are not prepared to come on board, we’re going to go forward and we’re going to do it alone.”

“I’ve been talking about the reconciliation package,” Sanders said. “That’s number one, dealing with the emergencies that working families face now, and we hope to have that on the floor next week. But there’s another bill coming down which will deal with the need to transform our energy system, create millions of good-paying jobs, combating climate change, and rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. We’ve got — some 10% of our workforce today is unemployed, we’ve got to put people back to work at good wages, and that’s a good way to do that.”

“I think what you’re seeing right now is, we are reaching out to Republicans and saying, look, if you want to rebuild our infrastructure, come on aboard. You want to lower the cost of prescription drugs, you want to provide health care to all people, you want to raise the minimum wage in this country? We’d love to have you,” he added. “But if you are not prepared to come on board, we’re going to go forward and we’re going to do it alone. We’ve got 50 votes, plus the vice president. We can do it in the Senate. We’ve got the votes in the House. That’s what we intend to do.”

In this same interview, Sanders made a point of attacking Republicans at large.

“A lot of Republicans are decent humans beings. They are good fathers and mothers and everything else,” Sanders said. “But especially under Trump, we have seen this country and the Republican Party move, to my mind, very far away from reality. And the fact that you got colleagues of mine in the Senate who refuse even today to acknowledge that Donald Trump lost the election.”